The present disclosure relates to a merchandising system. More specifically, the disclosure relates to a merchandising system for forward feeding products having a variety of shapes and sizes and automatically delivering such products to the front of a shelf. The disclosure pertains particularly to a track assembly that can be selectively secured to a divider construction.
Shelving is used extensively for stocking and storing products or merchandise in a variety of stores, such as grocery stores, drug stores and mass merchandisers, such as Wal-Mart, Kmart and the like. Most consumer product stores contain fixed shelving which is arranged back to back between aisle ways with the merchandise being stocked on such shelving. It is desirable for the merchandise to be displayed at the front edge of a shelf so that customers can see the merchandise and be induced to purchase the merchandise. In such stores, if the shelves are not positioned at eye level, it is difficult for the customer to see the items being displayed if such items are not located adjacent the front edge of the shelf. Also, fixed shelves make it difficult to rotate product, i.e., move the older stock to the front of the shelf and position the newer stock behind the older stock. Rotating products is an important consideration if the goods are perishable or subject to becoming stale (such as cigarettes, fruit juices, dairy products and the like). It is important for such articles that they be removed following a first in, first out system in order to maintain freshness. Forward feed devices are employed by merchants to automatically move an item forward on a shelf, as the item before it in a column of merchandise is removed from the shelf.
Such forward feed devices generally fall into three categories. The first category pertains to inclined tracks which rely on gravity to feed, slide or roll products forward on the shelf. Gravity feeding, however, may be unpredictable in that various materials or packages slide more easily than others because of different weights and frictional interfaces between the products and the track. The second category employs conveyor belts which still use gravity to effect forward movement. These devices are typically cumbersome, expensive and complicated due to the need to properly tension the track and the conveyor belts. The third category uses spring biased pusher paddles to feed product forward on the shelf. Such paddle-based forward feed devices have become very popular with merchants because they have been found useful for a variety of merchandise.
In the third category, separate dividers and tracks containing pusher paddles are usually employed along with end dividers to separate the merchandise into columns arrayed across the width of the shelf. Some have considered it advantageous to provide an integrated track and divider system because such an integrated track and divider makes assembly of the merchandising system on a shelf easier for store personnel because there are less components to handle. However, an integrated track and divider is disadvantageous from the perspective that the divider cannot be removed from the track should that become necessary. In some circumstances, such as for wide products, tracks which are separate from dividers, so called drop-in tracks, are advantageous so that two or more pusher paddles can urge a column of merchandise forward on the shelf. Currently, a separate drop-in track has to be produced for this purpose.
It would be advantageous to provide a two component track and divider assembly in which a track assembly can be selectively connected to or disconnected from a divider assembly. In other words, it would be desirable to provide a connection structure to selectively engage the track assembly with the divider assembly or disengage the track assembly from the divider assembly, as may be required in a particular merchandising environment. It would also be desirable to provide a track assembly which can either be secured to the divider assembly or spaced from the divider assembly and can be mounted on the front rail either separately or as joined together with the divider assembly.
It would also be desirable to selectively lock the divider assembly to the front rail in order to retard a sideward or lateral movement of the divider assembly as product is being urged forward on the track assembly by the pusher assembly. In other words, it would be desirable to allow the divider assembly to selectively engage a front rail in such a way that the divider assembly is allowed to move sideways or laterally in relation to the front rail when deemed necessary, but is otherwise retarded from such lateral movement along the length of the front rail. At the same time, it would be desirable to provide an automatic locking feature, so that the divider assembly is automatically locked against the front rail, unless a tab or the like is manually actuated to unlock the divider assembly from the front rail. Ideally, the divider assembly should be movable in the lateral direction parallel to the front rail, while being secured in a direction perpendicular to the front rail when a locking member is disengaged. However, the divider assembly should resist movement in the lateral direction parallel to the front rail and should remain secured in a direction perpendicular to the front rail when the locking member is engaged.
Moreover, it would be desirable to provide a track assembly which, when separately mounted on the front rail would resist movement in a direction perpendicular to the front rail and allow limited movement in a lateral direction along the length of the front rail once a frictional interface between the track assembly and the front rail has been overcome. Put another way, it would be desirable to allow a track assembly to be selectively mounted on the front rail in such a way that it is disconnected from the divider assembly and is inhibited from lateral movement. However, such movement would be allowed once a frictional resistance between the track and the front rail had been overcome.